1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to gardening tools for removing weeds and other undesirable vegetation in a lawn or garden, and to tools for planting plugs of desirable grass.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The eradication of weeds from lawns and gardens has been a major preoccupation of gardeners, caretakers and landscapers, as well as farmers, residential homeowners and horticulturists over the many years. Various methods of weed eradication are utilized, but all methods have significant disadvantages and require a great deal of manual labor. Weeds such as dandelions, chickweed and other common garden weeds have presented a constant blight to lawns and gardens for centuries, as have noxious grasses such as crab grass and rye grass. To beautify lawns and to permit the growth of desired vegetation, such as short bladed grass and vegetables, it has been necessary to eradicate weeds either through chemical treatment or by physical removal.
There are certain disadvantages to the eradication of weeds through chemical treatment. Herbicides are available which will selectively attack broad leafed weeds, such as dandelions, but which will not harm the growth of desirable grasses, such as Kentucky bluegrass and creeping bent. Chemical herbicides are rather expensive, however, and the application of such herbicides entails certain disadvantages. While it is possible to selectively eradicate broad leafed weeds with herbicides, crab grass and other noxious grasses cannot be selectively removed from desirable lawn grasses. Furthermore, lawn and garden herbicides can be toxic or irritating to children and animals. Children will frequently roll and frolic on chemically treated lawns and as a result develop rashes and other skin irritations if the lawn has been treated with a herbicide. Also, house pets can become ill when exposed to lawns which have been treated with herbicides. Furthermore, the individuals who apply the herbicides to lawns are exposed to the toxic effects of the chemicals contained therein, and often suffer skin and eye irritations as well as nausea and other discomfort as a result of exposure to lawn herbicides. In addition, herbicides cannot be used in vegetable gardens, as they are toxic to growing vegetables.
Another method of weed eradication is through physical removal of the weeds. Various tools have been devised for this purpose, but all such tools can be used to eradicate weeds only with considerable effort. Furthermore, weed removal with the tools heretofore available has been laboriously slow and the results are far from satisfactory. While tools are available which are able to remove the surface growth of weeds, the root systems of the weeds frequently remain intact. After removal of the surface growth of the weeds the roots promptly sprout new surface growth. As a consequence, physical removal of weeds with conventional tools involves hard physical labor which produces only very temporary eradication of weeds and noxious grasses.
Most conventional gardening tools for weed removal employ a cutting blade which acts horizontally or at an inclined angle relative to the generally vertical orientation of the weed structure. For example, weeding with a garden hoe is accomplished by attacking the weeds with chopping strokes of the hoe blade. The upper portion of the undesirable growth is removed, but the root structure remains to support immediate regrowth.
Another conventional weed removal tool which is widely used employs a V-shaped cutting blade on the end of an elongated handle. The cutting blade is positioned so as to embrace the tap root or primary root structure of the weed and to remove the upper portion of the offensive plant through a combined cutting and prying action. Again, however, major portions of the root structure remain in the soil and promptly flourish into a new weed growth. Also, a tool of this type is useful only for removing weeds one by one, and is incapable of removal of several adjacent weeds at one time.